Newsletter

Too many holes

That might not sound like a very thorough plan, but it's the only one some people can afford.

In Georgia and Chatham County, nearly two out of every 10 people live without health insurance.

Locally, that means 45,000 people - 18.6 percent of the county population - are uninsured. That's a little lower than the state average of 18.9 percent uninsured.

According to national figures from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 15.9 percent of adults and 11.2 percent of children have no health insurance coverage.

In Georgia, 12.7 percent of children have no coverage.

There are government programs that aim to help. Medicaid covers the poor and Medicare covers seniors. Georgia's financially troubled PeachCare program provides health insurance for the children of the state's working poor.

But this safety net has too many holes. Unfortunately, too many ill Georgians wind up in a place of last resort - a hospital emergency room, the most expensive option. That drives up costs for everyone.

In Chatham County, the Curtis V. Cooper Primary Health Care and MedBank are working together to provide health care and free medication.

The Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council has had some success in encouraging low-income families to use the Curtis Cooper center, the Community HealthCare Center/Savannah Health Mission and the J.C. Lewis Health Center.

But while lower-cost clinics have seen increased patronage, emergency room visits have increased, too.

Among the states, Massachusetts is leading the way in health-care reform. The plan crafted during the administration of Gov. Mitt Romney, now a Republican presidential candidate, mandates some form of health coverage for everyone.

The nation is watching what happens in the Bay State. Meanwhile, an important facet of the story is the high cost of prescription drugs.

If drugs cost less, insurance companies could charge less for coverage, extending the availability of insurance to families. Drug treatment also prevents expensive hospitalization, reducing costs.

An important step in bringing down the price of prescription drugs in the U.S. market is to grant Medicare the right to collectively bargain for the best price on medications.

This purchasing process is already used by the Veterans Administration, giving vets in their care a substantial price cut compared to that paid by Medicare patients or the open market price.

But the VA's purchasing power is relatively small compared to the number of prescriptions purchased through Medicare benefits.

Big pharmaceutical companies decry collective bargaining for Medicare as a de facto price cap imposed by the federal government. That's because the federal government would buy so many drugs at the lower price, it would effectively set the market price for a given drug.

Considering it's taxpayer dollars paying for a large percentage of those drugs, supplemented by payments from elderly citizens who are typically on fixed incomes, holding down the amount Medicare dishes out to Big Pharma is a worthwhile idea.

Pharmaceutical lobbyists argue that lower drug prices will make it less likely for drug companies to invest in new medications. However, this is an industry that takes in billions of dollars every year. Even with substantial revenue decreases, money will be available for research and development.

This is by no means a magic bullet in the push to provide health care to those who struggle to afford it.

However, it could play an important role in an arsenal of efforts, including wise choices by individuals to eat right, exercise and stay healthy.